Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Emma McKinstry

Kenny and Emma McKinstry

Emma McKinstry is a
second-generation Northern Irish driver, a daughter of Kenny McKinstry. She is
the only female McKinstry to compete seriously in motorsport, although her
sister, Susan, has navigated for their father.

Her usual car is a Subaru
Impreza, and her favoured surface seems to be Tarmac. She has driven in a
variety of Irish and UK events, including the WRC Rally Ireland.

Her earliest rallying
experience was co-driving for her father in the 2002 Lurgan Park Rally. The car
was a Subaru Impreza WRC, and they were second overall.

Before the Impreza, the
first car she drove herself in competition was a Peugeot 106. She used this car
in both stage rallies and club hillclimbs. Her first major event, the International
Ulster Rally, ended in retirement, but she was not put off, and returned the
following year, to finish 24th, and third in class. She also
finished the Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally, in 58th place.

For 2005, she had a new
car, a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. She handled the hike in power well,
and captured her first top-twenty finish, an eighteenth place in the Kirkistown
Eurocables Stages. Later in the season, she was 20th in the Galloway
Hills event, and in between, she drove in her first Rally of Ireland. She
acquitted herself well against an international field of drivers, and was 24th
overall, out of 43 entries.

2006 was Emma’s busiest
rallying year yet. Encouraged by her Rally of Ireland finish, and with some god
sponsors behind her, she entered the British National Championship, and crossed
over to mainland Britain for the first time. In Scotland in March, she was
fourteenth in the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally, and fifteenth in the
Ulster International Rally. Her usual car this year was the Mitsubishi, but the
Ulster rally was her first outing in a Subaru Impreza, meaning that she joined
a very elite group of female drivers who have rallied WRC cars in anger. Back
in the Lancer, she was eleventh in the Park Systems National Stages, and tenth
in the Moonraker Forestry Rally, another visit to the Republic of Ireland, a
first top ten, and proof that she could cut in on gravel as well as tarmac. She
had started the year with her second Rally of Ireland, and was 21st
overall, in the Lancer.

She adopted the Impreza,
run by McKinstry Motorsport, full-time in 2007. Her competition programme took
in rallies in both parts of Ireland. She achieved three top-ten finishes, all
on gravel this year: ninth in the Limerick Forestry Rally, sixth in the Cork
Forestry Rally, and sixth in the Killarney Forestry Rally. She was just outside
the top ten in the Lurgan Park Rally, in eleventh. Her third Rally of Ireland,
running this year as a World Championship round, gave her a 35th
place.

Gravel was her preferred
surface in 2008, and the top ten finishes continued. She was sixth in the
Limerick Forestry Rally. Sadly, mechanical problems put her out of the Ulster
Rally. The Impreza, in the hands of works Subaru WRC drivers, has always been
more of a gravel car.

2009 was mainly spent on
tarmac again. Her best result was sixth again, achieved at both Kirkistown and
Bishopscourt. This year, she was Northern Ireland’s top female driver.

It was a much quieter year
for Emma in 2010, with not much in the way of modern stage rallying. She did
get out in historic competition, however, driving a Sunbeam Avenger. This was
her first experience of driving a historic rally car, although she had navigated
for her father in a MkII Escort previously. She entered the Circuit of Ireland,
an event she had previously taken part in in modern machinery.

In 2011, she won the
McKinstry Motorsport Rally Time Trial, driving an Impreza. This was her first
outright win. Her season in the Northern Irish championship had several other
highlights, including a fourth place in the Kirkistown Stages, seventh in the
New Year and Lurgan Park rallies, and eighth in the Bishopscourt Stages.

In 2012, she was ninth in
the McKinstry Time Trial, in an Impreza. This was another rather quiet season,
with a ninth spot in the Hankook Down Rally as a highlight.

She was quite successful in
2013, with a fourth, fifth and ninth overall in Irish rallies. The ninth place
came in the Ulster Rally, her highest finish in this particular event. For the
Turkey Run Tarmac Stages, she stepped away from the Impreza, and drove a Proton
Compact instead, but did not finish.

Her best 2014 finish was
fourth, in the Winter Stages Rally. She was also sixth in the McGrady Insurance
Bishopscourt Stages, and seventh in the Lurgan Park Rally, all in the
Impreza. This was enough for tenth place in the Northern Irish
championship, and another Northern Ireland Ladies’ award.

Emma continued to rally in
2015, although she was not officially contesting any championships. Her best
result was fourth, in the New Year Stages Rally,
a regular part of her rallying calendar. She was also seventh in the Kirkistown Stages Rally.

She rallied two different Imprezas in 2016. Starting with her previous '01 model, she was fifth in the Pacenotes Rally Magazine Stages Rally, the first round of the Northern Irish championship. In the summer, she rallied her father's '08 Impreza WRC, and was immediately third in the Tyrone Stages, another asphalt rally. She also won her class. In October, she had another outing in the '08 car, and was thirteenth in the Down Rally.